Double IPA

A double IPA pours gold to light orange-copper, most often pale, under a lasting white head. Hops fill the aroma and the mouth, citrus, pine, tropical or stone fruit depending on the varieties, over a soft, clean malt that stays in the background. The bitterness runs high but never harsh, the finish dry, and the 7.5–10% alcohol shows only as a smooth warmth. Despite the strength, it should be easy to drink.

Where it comes from

American craft brewers developed it in the mid to late 1990s as a stronger American IPA. It spread through the 2000s, and Russian River’s Pliny the Elder, first brewed in 2000, did much to make it popular. Many modern versions get several rounds of dry hopping.

Brewers use a neutral base malt, often sugar to keep it dry, little or no crystal malt, American or New World hops and a clean yeast. European craft brewers took it up: Omnipollo’s Nebuchadnezzar was named best beer at the Stockholm Beer & Whisky Festival in 2012, and Galway Bay’s Of Foam and Fury was the Irish beer group Beoir’s beer of the year in 2014.

How to serve it

Pour it at 10–13 °C into a tulip glass. It goes with bone-in pork chops or miso salmon, rich cheeses or carrot cake.

Next to its neighbours

It is stronger, more bitter and hoppier than an English or American IPA. Against an American barleywine, it is less malty, lighter in body and drier, with the hops in charge.

Double IPA in numbers

Classic examples

Omnipollo, Brasserie Thiriez, Galway Bay Brewery

Original gravity

1.065–1.085

Final gravity

1.008–1.018

Also called

imperial IPA

Food

Bone-in pork chops or miso salmon; rich cheeses; carrot cake

Classic examples

Russian River Pliny the Elder; Stone Ruination Double IPA 2.0; Fat Heads Hop Juju; Port Brewing Hop 15; Wicked Weed Freak of Nature; Columbus Brewing Bohdi

BJCP style

22A Double IPA

Sources

Checked October 30, 2026.

1. 22A. Double IPA, 2021 Beer Style Guidelines — Beer Judge Certification Program
2. Imperial India Pale Ale — CraftBeer.com, Brewers Association